Little Things
by erbkaiser
Summary: Taylor's power is based very loosely on Final Destination in that she makes minor changes that can lead to catastrophic results. Probably won't continue this,s he turned out to be too much of a victim and I don't see a way to improve things.


Little Things

Ever since the… _incident_, Taylor found herself with these strange urges. Move a chair just a few inches to the left. Tap a street sign pole as she walked past it. Drop a small rock on a stair. She had no idea why she suddenly felt like doing one of those things, but always found herself acting on it before she even realized what she was doing.

Today was no different. The school day had started as usual, with the bitchy trio and their hangers-on intercepting her near the school entrance to sling insults at her. When Taylor had been admitted to the psych ward after recovering from a nearly fatal infection caused by the _incident_ the doctors and everyone else involved had promised her and her dad that the word wouldn't get out, so of course everyone at Winslow High now knew that Taylor had gone nuts.

As if she could've helped screaming when she first woke up and saw death all around her. The nurse she had seen when she first opened her eyes was getting electrocuted by a badly insulated device one moment, and was fine the other. The doctor who had checked her cuts on her legs had his skull crushed as a rock fell on it, but a second later was still just standing normally at her bedside. And her dad… that had caused her to start screaming. Nobody should have to see their father with his throat cut.

'That's all in the past, Taylor,' she reminded herself, sitting in Mr. Gladly's World Issues class. Staring out of the window, she wasn't aware of her right hand picking up her pen and dropping it, causing it to roll towards the door a little.

A little later the bell rang to indicate the end of class. Experience had taught Taylor to neither be the first nor last to exit the classroom so she quickly packed her things while she waited for the first students to leave. As such, she was watching Madison as the petite girl walked towards the door, only for her to step on Taylor's dropped pen and slide forwards unexpectedly. Madison flung her arms up to steady herself, causing her right hand to hit Li Seung in the boob.

"Gweilo bitch! That hurt!" the probably-ABB-Asian girl yelled out, glaring murder. Madison paled and ran out of the classroom, only for Li and two of her probably-ABB-friends to pursue her.

Taylor didn't care much, at least this meant that Madison was likely to be occupied during lunch. And an occupied Madison was one that wouldn't try to mess with her.

At the end of the school day, Taylor heard that Sophia Hess —_that bitch_— and Li Seung had been caught fighting in the gym. Sophia was apparently sporting a —heh— black eye while Li had had a tooth knocked out. Madison meanwhile had her nose broken by either Li or one of the other ABB girls that had been chasing her. Surprising Taylor not one bit, Sophia had gotten off without even a warning, but at least it meant that when she left the school building none of the trio were waiting for her so the worst she had to endure was Greg Veder's chatter as he claimed the seat next to her in the school bus.

It had been a good day.

=x=x=x=x=

Of course things never went well for long when your name was Taylor Hebert and your school position was that of pariah.

Sophia evidently had frustration to work off so she had caught up with Taylor the next day during lunch and had jumped her in the bathroom Taylor had been hiding in.

"I heard you were laughing at Madison yesterday, weakling! Well, are you laughing now?" Sophia gleefully exclaimed while she was giving Taylor a beating. All Taylor could do was try to protect her face and stomach as Sophia railed on her, her arms moving apparently randomly to deflect Sophia's blows and kicks. Neither aggressor nor tormentor noticed that one of Taylor's weak swings hit the jeans pocket Sophia was carrying her phones in, nor that by pure accident Sophia had left one of the two unlocked. Taylor's hand just happened to press a special icon that was connected to a certain console located elsewhere in Brockton Bay, opening an audio feed and sending out a distress signal.

"I'm going to put you back in the hospital, Hebert! You thought the locker we pulled on you was bad? Well, by the time I'm done with you today you'll be lucky if even a Merchant will be able to look at your busted face without disgust!" Sophia yelled as she kept kicking and hitting the whimpering girl.

A few minutes and many punches and kicks later, Sophia finally stopped her assault. Glaring down at the thoroughly beaten girl one more time she could not help but add a final insult: "Lying down in a pool of your own filth, just what you deserve, Hebert. Remember, not one word to anyone or you'll get double this next time. Nobody believes you anyway, they are all on my and Emma's side." Sophia picked up Hebert's bag to rifle through and destroy later, then left the bathroom.

Taylor whimpered, curling back into a ball, and passed out from the pain.

=x=x=x=x=

Emily Piggot, Director of the local PRT glared over her table at the local Protectorate head, Armsmaster. "Run it by me again, how did we end up in this mess?"

"At approximately 1:15 PM local time the Wards Console operator received a distress signal from the Wards cellphone issued to Shadow Stalker. A muffled audio channel was opened, presumably because the cellphone was still in Shadow Stalker's pocket at the time, but the audio was clear enough to make out the sounds of fighting and several threats by Shadow Stalker to the other party involved in the fight, one Taylor Hebert, were recorded.

The operator attempted to get Shadow Stalker's attention but the emergency channel was one-sided and no audio could be sent. Shadow Stalker's civilian phone was not responding and presumably turned off or set into airplane mode as per school regulations.

As the fight appeared to be extremely one-sided and the operator was worried by Shadow Stalker's threats towards the other girl, a PRT response team was sent to Winslow High to intercept Shadow Stalker and her presumed victim. Upon arrival the fight was over and Miss Hebert was found unconscious and wounded in the girl's bathroom. Paramedics were called and officer Durban remained with the girl while officers Smythe and Pierce went to collect Shadow Stalker from her class. Shadow Stalker appeared to cooperate with the officers, but she managed to give them the slip in the school corridors by changing into her shadow form and leaving the area. Her Wards phone was found discarded near the school gates a little later.

Officers are currently on stakeout near Shadow Stalker's civilian residence to attempt to intercept her should she return home."

"Christ. And what of the victim?"

"Miss Hebert's injuries were severe enough for her to be taken to the hospital. PRT officers Smythe and Pierce found Miss Hebert's school backpack in possession of Emma Barnes, presumably the 'Emma' Shadow Stalker mentioned during her assault on Miss Hebert, and Miss Barnes was taken into custody. She is currently in interrogation room 2, waiting for her father who insisted on also acting as her lawyer.

Miss Hebert's father was informed of his daughter's injuries by hospital staff and is presumed to be en route to the hospital now. Assault and Battery have been assigned to guard Miss Hebert while there."

"Why set guards on the Hebert girl?"

"Shadow Stalker has shown severe aggression towards Miss Hebert and I judge her to be in potential danger, should Shadow Stalker blame Miss Hebert for her current problems."

"All right, I can agree with that. Do we have any idea what set Shadow Stalker off today?"

"In interviews with other students it became clear there is a great deal of animosity between Miss Hebert and a group including Shadow Stalker in her civilian identity. The 'locker' Shadow Stalker mentioned was a particularly mean spirited 'prank' from three months ago that resulted in Miss Hebert being locked inside a school locker filled with filth for possibly several hours, resulting in her being hospitalized."

"Dammit! Why wasn't this on file?"

"Unknown at this time. No police follow-up was done for the case and the Heberts seem to have settled with the school, as Winslow High paid for Miss Hebert's medical bills. Shadow Stalker should have reported on this as part of her Ward duties, though."

"Yes, she should've. But if she was involved with it..."

"Then it makes sense why she didn't. I agree."

"All right. I want Miss Barnes interrogated on everything she knows about Miss Hebert and Shadow Stalker the moment Mr. Barnes arrives, and see if we can get Panacea to give Miss Hebert a visit. I want her side of the story."

"And what about Shadow Stalker?"

"I want her in a cell asap. Increase her threat level to armed, dangerous, and a flight risk. She's not getting away with this on my watch."

=x=x=x=x=


End file.
